358 Tasting Notes

When I think of key lime, I think of a pie made with fresh key lime juice, a graham cracker crust and a little whipped cream on top. I think the description of this tea even mentions key lime pie. When I took my first sip, all I could taste was lime juice. It was a fresh, tart lime juice flavor, but rather plain as that was the only flavor. Then I decided to add a little sugar – that made the sweetness of the lime and stevia come out and it tasted like limeade. Then I thought, what the heck, and added a little milk. Bam! Now it’s a cup of creamy limey flavor that tastes like a real dessert. I like that I can still taste the tangy lime juice but it’s not overwhelmingly tart or too boring. This is making me want a slice of real key lime pie! Thank you, VariaTEA, for this sample!

Wow, this one is good. Like really really good. I love chocolate teas, and I was expecting this one to be overwhelmingly spicy, like chai spicy. Instead, it’s a smooth and creamy cup with a wonderfully rich chocolate flavor. The spices are barely there – just enough to leave me wondering what spices they are. They’re sweet spices, (maybe cinnamon is one of them?), nothing too strong or peppery. The tea tastes like taking a bite of a milk chocolate bar. Not even a cup of hot chocolate – it’s straight up like eating the real thing. I’m always impressed with Kusmi teas, but this one really wowed me! Conicidentally, I took my nursing 112 final yesterday and today is the first day of spring break. It’s off to a good start with this tea! Thank you, VariaTEA, for this sample!

amazing review. this sounds like an exquisite tea. i’ve been let down by a lot of chocolate teas of late due to their ‘thinness’ and the chocolate not being a proper component of the flavor so much as the aroma. from ur description, i imagine i would love this one.

also- happy spring break, good luck on the final & props to you for doing nursing- that’s really impressive!

Christmas or not, this tea is good! I could certainly drink this one all year round. I can’t really detect any of the spices individually, but they’re adding a nice backdrop in the taste. The flavor is malty with a hint of sweet orange (not tart orange) and there’s a very heavy almond vanilla aftertaste that lingers nicely. This one is blended well, with all of the flavors meshing together. Thank you, VariaTEA!

Ahhh, today very much feels like spring. I woke up to birds chirping outside and it’s nice and sunny outside. This is a perfect spring-like tea for this beautiful morning. It’s much lighter than I originally thought, which is a good thing. Somehow when I think of citrus fruits (especially grapefruit) I immediately think of a harsh, tart flavor. This is so not that. It’s almost creamy flavored in it’s citrusy softness. Thank you, VariaTEA, for this one!

Starting this Saturday off with a new tea. To me, this tea is more coconut flavored than banana. Thankfully, I got more of the banana to come out when I added a little milk. Still a good cup, just a little more lightly flavored and coconutty than expected. Thank you, VariaTEA for this sample! :)

I had to take a little break from all of the wonderful teas that VariaTEA sent me because I had some icky virus/laryngitis that I couldn’t taste anything. I did, however, drink tons of tea during that time because it literally made my throat feel so much better. Tea to the Rescue!!

It’s finals time and I have a boring day of studying ahead of me. What better way to prepare than with a cup of liquid oreos?! The dry leaves smell like chocolate and vanilla. The flavor is mostly a rich, creamy vanilla like the center of an oreo cookie with just a little chocolate. I was afraid that milk would overwhelm this one, but it really brought out more of the cookie flavor. Thank you, VariaTEA for this one! I saved the rest for my fiancee, he will LOVE this!

-Dry blend has small black tea leaves with pieces of dried dates and pieces of cocoa peels.
-Dry leaves smell lightly of a chocolate cookie. Tea liquor aroma is of rich vanilla with a hint of chocolate.
-Tea liquor is a clear medium yellow brown color.
-Light cocoa flavor with a chocolate finish. Chocolate and vanilla aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Very good tea. Creamy chocolate and vanilla flavor. Reminiscent of a double-stuffed oreo cookie.

Another new tea. Out of all the teas from my recent swap, I think this was the one that I was most excited to try! I’ve debated about ordering from Bluebird Teas for so long, but always put it off because of the shipping price to the US. Now that I’ve finally tried a tea of theirs, I won’t be so hesitant to place an order. This tea is wonderful! I was a bit worried after both the dry leaves and the tea in my cup had a tart raspberry aroma, but the flavor is definitely not that bold. It’s has light and creamy vanilla cake flavor with a little juicy berry taste to it that reminds me of raspberry jam. I added sugar and milk and it really brought out the vanilla and berry flavors and blended everything together nicely. I am in love with this tea! Thank you VariaTEA for sending me this one.

I got this tea from VariaTEA for my fiancee, who loves cookie teas. After trying a cup myself this morning, I don’t think that this will disappoint him. The smell reminds me of chocolate chip cookies, and there’s a little brown sugar noticeable. The flavor is more of a rich sugar cookie flavor with a light spiciness to it. The flavor seems to change with every sip, but every sip is equally delicious! I’m glad we have a whole pack of this tea to enjoy, although once the fiancee gets a hold of it it won’t last long! Thanks, VariaTEA!

Another tea from *VariaTEA*’s package (thank you!). This is one that I’ve wanted to try for a while. I love 52 Tea’s Blueberry Zabaglione, so I thought this one would be great too. It does have a nice fresh blueberry flavor that has just the right amount of sweetness so that it isn’t artificial tasting. The flavor is initially all blueberry with a little maltiness. Adding milk and sweetener brings out a tiny bit of the cream cheese, but I’m still not getting any bready pastry flavor. I like this one, but I think I prefer the creaminess of the Blueberry Zabaglione more. Still glad that I finally got a chance to try this one!

Another snow day and another new tea to try! I knew this one would be a winner because I like Pancake Breakfast so much. This one seems to have a strong addition of cinnamon to it, although I still can detect a rich butteriness in the flavor. I could smell brown sugar in the dry leaves, but unfortunately didn’t get any of that or the maple syrup in my cup. I think I would definitely order this one in the future, but I still prefer Pancake Breakfast over this one because you get more of the pastry-bready flavor of pancakes in that one. The aftertaste in this one does remind me of cinnamon toast, but nothing can beat that warm, crumbly flavor of pancakes! Thank you, VariaTEA for sending me this one!

-Dry blend has small black tea leaves with small pieces of cinnamon and small yellow petals.
-Dry leaves smell like spicy cinnamon with a hint of sweet brown sugar. Tea liquor aroma is lightly of cinnamon with a buttery scent.
-Tea liquor is a clear medium yellow brown color.
-Buttery black tea flavor with a cinnamon finish. Light cinnamon toast aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Very good tea. Light cinnamon and butter flavors. Slightly reminiscent of cinnamon toast.